Jason’s Comments (group member since Apr 18, 2009)

Jason’s comments from the Q&A with Zak Smith group.

So do you buy books new, used, go to library? How do you usually find out about authors?
You mentioned in an interview objects (a fan or cat)in some of your paintings relate to the subject. Like a dominatrix always had a fan in there apartment. I don't remember exactly. Do the stuffed animals (the giant anime looking cat) relate to specific subjects?

The contrast between Cecily Brown’s depiction of sex in paintings and your own always struck me. Yours are people within the industry, hers are anonymous people engaged in sex. There is a rhythm in your drawings. The figures are often captured at a particular moment (seated, in bed, etc) in apartments, studio sets, driving. Cecily Brown’s work has an element of motion. Some are like a porn movie put on pause. Sex plays a large role in your subject’s lives but you show other elements of them. Do you try to incorporate a loose narrative within a series of paintings of women? And when that narrative is established do you then draw that particular subject having sex, put a face behind the act?

With regards to the use of color in your work, I thought of De Kooning’s Excavation. I’m not saying your work is like his. But to me, his use of color in that painting was for balance. He didn’t draw the painting/composition first then add color. The colors are an necessary part of the composition. Your drawings on there own, without color, are terrific compositions. It seems that the bright, saturated colors are an ornate quality that balances it out too. My question is how are you using color different than other artists before you, and from those whom you admire?

Do you always carry a camera? Do you draw from photographs? If so, will you draw only from pics you’ve taken? How do you decide where you want color and black/white/grays in a drawing /painting? While working on a painting have you ever changed your mind as to what ‘object/s’ will have color?
In an interview you said you’re trying to make drawings that look good and different than what’s been done before. How does your new book hold up to that as a collection of drawings and as a book itself?

Thanks for answering these questions. Do you ever make sculptures of the women you've drawn? Some of the scketches on your website are people having sex. Are those ideas for future paintings?

Are there any comic book writers/illustrators who you talk with? Do you make drawings of what your reading as you read a book, or do you wait until after finishing the book? Do you have drawings for In Viriconium? Is there an artist who you admired for their illustrations of literature (for example Delacroix's illustrations of Faust)?

What to you think Bendis' story/art on the Avengers Secret Invasion/Dark Reign series?